


☆

by onetrueobligation



Category: Ghost Quartet - Malloy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Love Triangle, Revenge, Soulmate AU, sorry about the title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 11:19:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12057903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onetrueobligation/pseuds/onetrueobligation
Summary: Rose Red has been searching for her soulmate for far too long. Too bad he's in love with her sister.





	☆

Rose loved the stars.

She loved the stars because they were far away, distant, just like her. She kept her distance because she was afraid that if she got too close, someone would end up burned. She felt a deep attachment to the stars in the deep indigo sky because she was a part of them. _We are all made of stardust,_ her mother used to say. _Isn’t that right, my starchild?_

Rose didn’t remember her mother’s face.

It was no surprise that her marking was a star. Nothing special, just a simple five-point star in black ink on her wrist. It was dear to her, more than anything she owned. It reminded her that someone out there had the same connection to the stars as she did.

Her sister took over when their mother died. They moved into a lighthouse on the sea. Rose would climb the tower and gaze at the stars in the middle of the night, as they were her only consolation left. Her mother was gone, their few possessions had been sold and now, in the middle of nowhere, she almost lost all hope of finding her soulmate.

On a rare outing they both took to the nearest village to buy food, the two sisters found themselves lost in the forest. It was a cold afternoon, and the dark clouds threatened a storm. Rose and Pearl clung to each other, trying to find warmth. That was when they saw _him._

At first they were wary – a strange man in the woods was rarely a good thing, and the sisters had read the stories – but he was kind, and he showed them the way to his treehouse, where they took shelter from the storm.

The three of them talked for hours about everything. The man explained that he was an astronomer, and showed them his telescope, which captivated Rose. He made them bread and cheese and they ate until the storm passed. By that time, it was dark, and so Rose asked to look through the telescope. The astronomer agreed and for the first time, Rose had a close-up view of the stars.

It was hard to say just how the stars moved her, but when she looked at the astronomer, she felt the same way.

The two sisters left soon after, and the astronomer invited them to visit again any time they wished. And so, one morning a few weeks later, Rose did so. To her surprise, the astronomer wasn’t there. However, she wanted him to know she’d visited, so she wrote him a poem of all the things she’d seen in the sky and placed it in a rice-paper envelope, with a lily for a stamp. She signed it and left.

One night, after Rose had gone to sleep, Pearl left the lighthouse to walk on the beach alone.

A change had come over Rose, and Pearl noticed, even if Rose hadn’t. Since the death of their mother, Rose had become cold and sometimes downright hateful. Pearl feared for her sister’s health. She was spending more and more time gazing at the stars. It wasn’t natural.

On that particular walk along the beach, Pearl met the astronomer.

‘Hello, again,’ he said with a slight smile (at least she thought so – it was dark). ‘What would you be doing on the beach at this time of night?’

Pearl brushed her auburn hair behind her ear. ‘Thinking.’

The astronomer discreetly slid his hand into hers. ‘Perhaps we can think together.’

It was dark, but not so dark that Pearl did not clearly see the little black star on his wrist.

 

Pearl was facing a choice that was tearing her apart – she could tell her sister that she’d found her soulmate, or she could stay with her love in silence.

Unluckily, Rose found out herself.

‘What’s that on your wrist?’ she asked one night after looking away from the stars.

‘That?’ The astronomer laughed nervously. ‘Oh, that’s just… nothing.’

‘Let me see.’ She reached over and pulled back his sleeve. She gasped. ‘Your mark…’

She held her wrist to his face and he smiled tightly. ‘Ah.’

She threw her arms around him. ‘It’s you! It’s you, it’s you! Finally!’

‘Yes, it’s certainly…’ He struggled to find a word that could accurately describe how he felt about the revelation.

 

‘She found out?’ Pearl asked the next day.

‘She’s never going to let this go,’ the astronomer sighed. ‘We have to tell her about you and me.’

‘No,’ Pearl said defiantly. ‘She’s unstable enough as it is. This would ruin her.’

‘Then what do you suggest?’

Pearl bit her lip. ‘I suggest we do nothing.’

 

For a time, that worked. The astronomer let Rose believe they were together while continuing his relationship with Pearl. That was until a month or so later. It was a dark night, and he had no lights lit so as to see the stars better. He heard someone approach him and turned. He saw the silhouette of a woman and waved her over. ‘Come look at the stars, dear Pearl.’

There was a long silence. Then –

‘Pearl?’

The astronomer’s stomach dropped. ‘Rose?’

 

And just like that, Rose knew everything. Pearl watched her run into the forest with tears in her eyes, red cloak disappearing into the night. The astronomer held her tightly. ‘It’s alright. She’ll calm down.’

Pearl whipped around to him, glaring daggers. ‘You don’t know him like I do. She’s going to end up just like our mother.’

A crow flew past, and Pearl shivered.

 

Rose sat shivering in the rain, her red cloak sticking to her shoulders. She’d mutilated herself, forced her soul into something between a ghost and a memory, all for nothing. Four lifetimes, scouring the world for honey, stardust, a baptism, a photo, and the bear had refused her.

She didn’t know her way home.

Instead, she heard a voice.

Her sister was singing.

_And he strung her fiddle bow with her long brown hair…_

They’d met time and time again, throughout their lives. A soldier in a bar. An ancient in a palace. A mother in a mansion.

A ghost on a subway platform.

_Oh, the wind and rain…_

But that voice was unmistakeable. It was the last hope Rose had of clinging to her humanity. It was the last reminder she had of her mother.

Pearl had been blessed with their mother’s voice.

_Strung his fiddle bow with her long brown hair…_

And so she followed the melody. A melody her mother used to sing – and old wives tale.

_Cryin’ oh, the dreadful wind and rain…_

There she was, like a shining pearl in a sea of despair. Her sister on the edge of the river. Her sister - the pretty one, the smart one, the kind one.

_But the only tune that the fiddle would play was…_

And Rose felt a surge of anger, hearing Pearl’s perfect voice, seeing her perfect face.

_Oh, the wind and rain…_

In a blind fury, she raced up to her sister, who was now far too close to the rushing water’s edge.

_The only tune that the fiddle would play was…_

Rose had pushed Pearl into the water before the song was over.

There was a moment during which everything seemed to stop. Pearl screamed, and her frightened eyes met her sister’s.

Rose’s eyes were unforgiving.

She turned her back on her sister as she tried to climb out ( _Just like on the subway platform,_ Rose tried to avoid thinking). She walked away as the rain continued to pelt down. Soon Pearl’s cries for help subsided. One thing Rose had always been better at – swimming.

She felt no remorse for what she had done. She didn’t care about the astronomer any longer.

_I suppose you need a soul to have a soulmate,_ she thought with a grin. No one would know what she had done. Not even the stars were there to be her witness.


End file.
